


Bearhugs

by AssortedGeekery



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Cold, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic, h/c, sic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-25
Updated: 2012-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-06 00:44:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AssortedGeekery/pseuds/AssortedGeekery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there is a bear with a cold, a pup with an agenda, and a lot of fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bearhugs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KittenFair](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenFair/gifts).



> A DOINK!challenge for KittenFair. The prompt was as follows: 
> 
>  
> 
> Request #1  
> Fandom(s): Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII  
> Request: Zack/Angeal as a pairing, either established or getting together by the end of the fic. One is sick with a mako-mutated cold (no 'bodily excretions' like snot or vomit, please! Coughing, sneezing, sore throat is good for symptoms.) and the other takes care of him. Tender, fluffy fic, please! Also, Zack is AT LEAST 16 - preferably older. Alternate realities are acceptable (ex: Angeal never defected), but not alternate realities (ex: school themes).

Morning drilling was a requirement for all infantrymen and all Second and Third Class SOLDIERs. Drills began at 6:30am sharp, rain or shine (snow, sleet, hail, and high winds, on the other hand….), beginning with stretching and a long run and ending with weapons practice. Barring missions and emergencies, either Sephiroth, Genesis, or Angeal drilled with the SOLDIERs, rotating weeks to keep it fair. 

On a grayish morning in November, however, there was no General or Commander on the field. Angeal was on the schedule, but nowhere to be seen, and he wasn’t answering a few confused phone calls. The SOLDIERs waited ten minutes, then started drills without him. 

He didn’t show up.  
___________________

“He hasn’t called in,” Lazard murmured, not looking up from his computer. “Have you heard from him, Fair?”  
Zack shook his head. He’d gone to Lazard’s office in search of his mentor after drills, worrying about emergency missions or something of that nature.  
“Not even a text message.”  
“Then it’s probably something personal. Go check his quarters, and see if he’s there. Keep me posted.”  
“Yessir.”  
He slouched out of the office, frowning. Angeal never missed work. He’d skip drills now and then, but always for a good reason, and always with a warning- even if it was a warning that Zack needed to be in the garage at 0600 or he was going to miss a trip out for pancakes. No warning had to mean something bad.  
So up to Angeal’s he went, letting himself in with the key Angeal had finally given him after weeks of begging and pleading. This was why he’d wanted one, not, as Angeal had teased, for late-night fridge raids. 

The small apartment was dark and quiet. All lights were off, the television was dark, and there was no evidence of breakfast in the kitchen. The bedroom door was closed.  
Angeal only closed the bedroom door when he was in there.

“’geal?” Zack ventured, opening the door slowly. “You in here?”

Like the rest of the place, the bedroom was dark and quiet. Darker than the rest of the apartment, in fact, as Angeal had installed blackout curtains to allow for long naps after missions. It smelled…strange. Heavy and faintly musty. Sort of…sick. Zack didn’t know how else to describe it. The ability to detect faint scents was relatively new to him, being the last of his senses to benefit from his Mako treatments, and he hadn’t mastered it yet.  
There was a lump on the bed, huge under the blankets, breathing slowly. 

“’geal?” Zack made his way carefully over to the bed and switched on the reading lamp on the nightstand. Sure enough, it was Angeal in the bed, lying loosely curled on his side, sound asleep at almost ten in the morning on a Tuesday.  
“Bear?” He touched Angeal’s forehead, bit his lip, and sighed.  
Fever. Low, but present. Probably his fault.  
He leaned down and kissed Angeal’s cheek, turned the light back off, and slipped out of the room. Might as well make himself useful and make soup while he waited for Angeal to wake. And he needed to call Lazard.  
“This is Lazard.”  
“Um…hi, Director. I found him.”  
“Excellent. Where?”  
“In his quarters. I think he’s sick- felt like he had a little bit of a fever, and he’s sound asleep.” Zack swallowed. “Sorry.”  
“I appreciate the update, Fair, but I don’t understand why you’re apologizing.”  
“I…um…I was really sick last week, sir. I had that stomach flu that was going around, and Angeal stayed with me the whole time. He didn’t sleep much and I don’t think he remembered to eat often…”  
Lazard sighed.  
“So you tired him out and left him with no defenses against whatever he has. Is that what you’re saying?”  
“Yessir.”  
“Well stop saying it. This isn’t your fault. Do what you can for him- I’m taking you off the duty rosters for a few days, but you’ll need to stop by my office to pick up some paperwork to do instead. Is that clear?”  
“Um…yes. Okay. Sir.”  
“Mmm. Take care of him, Fair.”  
“Will do!”

Zack hung up and began rattling around in the kitchen, checking to see what he had to work with. Not much...Angeal probably hadn’t had time for a grocery run…hmm…  
Reno had had a creative and very tasty solution to that the last time Zack had found Angeal’s pantry lacking. Zack sent a quick, hopeful text.  
[Where did you order that grocery delivery from? The one you sent me when I was making dinner for Angeal and he didn’t have anything I could use?]  
[Sunflower Market. Why?]  
[He’s sick and I want to make soup.]  
[Want me to send up an order?]  
[WOULD YOU?]  
[Sure. Chicken soup?]  
[Yup.]  
[Should be about an hour.]  
[THANK YOU]

Leaving Angeal to sleep, Zack ran out to get clean clothes and his paperwork.  
\-------------------  
Two hours later, Angeal was beginning to make sniffly, snorty sorts of waking up sounds and Zack was putting groceries away. Reno had really come through…the goodies in the three crates that had showed up at the door were…amazing.

The bedroom door swung open and Angeal shambled out, pink-nosed, tousle-headed, and bleary-eyed. He blinked groggily at Zack, clearly trying to figure out where he’d come from.  
“Pup?”  
“Awww, you’re up. How are you feeling?” Zack scooted over to him at once, kissing his forehead and brushing his hair back.  
“Sick,” Angeal grunted. “What are you doing here?”  
“Making soup to help you get better.”  
“You should be working.”  
“I am.”  
“Actually, working, Zack.”  
“I am. The Director told me to stay with you. He gave me paperwork.”  
Angeal grimaced. “I don’t want you here with me, pup. You’ll get sick.”  
“Don’t care.”  
“Out.”  
“Nope.”  
“That’s an order.”  
“My orders are from your superior. So there.” Zack blew a raspberry at his mentor. “Nyaaa.”  
“Zaaaaaaaack, I don’t-“  
Zack stretched up and kissed Angeal’s nose.  
“Shh. You want something to eat? Or something hot to drink?”  
Angeal went briefly cross-eyed, shook his head, and sighed. “Something hot.”  
“’kay. Tea, or coffee?”  
“I don’t think I need coffee,” he mumbled, but there was a hopeful lilt to the remark. Zack smiled.  
“I have decaf for you. Want that?”  
Angeal nodded.  
“Okay. Go lie back down. I’ll bring it in a minute.”  
“I just got up!”  
“Then sit on the couch instead of in bed. You’re sick, ‘geal.”  
“But I’m not-“  
Zack flapped his hands at Angeal. “Shoo.”  
“But-“  
“Shoo.”  
“Zack, I-“  
“SHOO!”  
Angeal shooed, retreating to the couch with a huff. 

As promised, Zack made coffee and padded into the living room carrying it and a plate of toast. He found Angeal stretched out on the couch with a book open on his chest, clearly not interested in whatever he’d been reading. Grinning, he put breakfast down on the coffee table and leaned over the arm of the couch to kiss Angeal’s forehead.  
“Hey bear. Breakfast is ready.”  
“Breakfast? You never said anything about-“  
“You need to eat.” Zack handed the coffee and toast over, smiling sweetly.  
Angeal sighed. “Thank you, pup, but really…I’m not hungry.”  
“I know. But you need to eat a little. It’s never good when you start skipping meals.”  
“You’re worse than my mother.”  
“My sex life depends on you being healthy. Of course I’m worse than your mother.”  
“Zack!”  
“What? It’s true?”  
“Just…just…never mind. I’ll eat.” He nibbled a corner off one of the slices of toast. “Are you going to hover while I eat this?”  
“I’m going to hover until you eat at least half of it.”  
“Must you?”  
“Yes.”

Angeal ate both slices of toast and drank most of his coffee. Pleased, Zack settled down on the couch with him for snuggles- which lasted all of ten minutes before Angeal fell asleep.  
Zack smiled and slipped out from under him, bending to kiss his forehead. “Sleep well, bear.”  
\---------------------  
It was after two o’clock that afternoon when Zack heard movement in the living room again. He wanted to go check, but had his hands full shredding chicken.  
“In here, ‘geal!”

Angeal shuffled in, coughing softly into his fist.  
“What are you doing?”  
“Making soup.”  
“You didn’t have t-“  
“Yes, I did.” Zack finished breaking everything up enough to fit in Angeal’s mixer, rinse his hands, and went to wrap himself around his lover, kissing his cheek. “Hey. “How do you feel?”  
“Worse. Nng…don’t do that. You’re going to get sick.”  
“Don’t care.”  
“But I do.”  
“But I get to call the shots while you’re sick. I win.” Zack pressed his lips to Angeal’s forehead. “Your fever’s gotten higher. Tell me how you feel? So I know what you need?”  
“It’s just a cold.”  
“You’re not answering the question,” Zack pointed out, brushing Angeal’s hair out of his face. “How are you feeling?”  
Angeal sighed. “Just…sick, Zack.”  
“Sick how?”  
“I have a headache…throat hurts. Getting congested…in my chest as well as my sinuses.” He closed his eyes. “Just sick.”  
Zack cooed sympathetically. “I know what you need.”  
“More sleep?”  
“A nice hot bath.”

 

A few minutes later, Angeal was sinking into a steaming tub with a soft groan. Zack leaned over him, kissing his air.  
“Better?”  
“A little.”  
“Got something for your throat, too.”  
“If it’s one of those numbing sprays, the answer is no.”  
“It’s not. Promise. It even tastes good. “  
Angeal snorted, ten began to cough, leaving Zack to sigh over him in a tone that would not have been out of place coming from a middle-aged mother but which had no business being produced by a nineteen year old man.  
“It’s honey, ‘geal,” he murmured, patting Angeal’s back. “Which is good for bears.”  
“I’m not that kind of bear.”  
“Honey is good for ‘geal-bears too. It’ll help that cough. Try it?”  
“You’re going t- not the face, Zack that’s not fair!”  
Zack pouted at him, batting his eyes.  
“Alright alright alright already!”  
Grinning, Zack filled a spoon with honey and offered it to Angeal, who took it from his hand before putting it in his mouth- previous experience with Zack trying to spoon-feed him had been….messy, and he liked this bath too much to have to get out of it yet.  
And it did work, more or less. He didn’t feel so much like his throat was being torn open anymore.  
“Huh. Thanks, Pup.”

Zack laughed softly and leaned over to kiss his forehead again.  
“I do know what I’m doing, y’know. I’ve had a good teacher.”

Angeal blushed. He had taken care of Zack a lot since they’d met. It made sense that Zack would have picked up on the necessary skills and knowledge for nursing. He ought to stop pushing his young lover away like this…Zack had probably learned to be a stubborn pest as well.  
“Yeah. You do.”  
“Mmhm. Anything else I can do for you? More coffee? Tea?”  
He bit his lip, then grinned. “Hop in with me? There’s room for two…”  
Zack blushed, but grinned at him. “You sure? Not afraid you’re gonna give me your cooties?”  
“I don’t care anymore. I just want to be close to you. You make me feel better.”

So what if Zack scrambled into the bath fast enough to splash water everywhere? Love was supposed to be a little messy.


End file.
